The focus of hotly contested immigration legislation swung Friday from the Senate to the House, where conservative Republicans hold power, there is no bipartisan template to serve as a starting point and the two parties stress widely different priorities.

"It's a very long and winding road to immigration reform," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who said it could be late this year or perhaps early in 2014 before the outcome is known. His own constituents are "very skeptical, mostly opposed," he said.

Supporters of the Senate's approach sought to rally support for its promise of citizenship for those who have lived in the United States unlawfully, a key provision alongside steps to reduce future illegal immigration.

"The Republican Party still doesn't understand the depth ... of this movement and just how much the American people want comprehensive immigration reform," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. "We need to make sure they come to this understanding."

But Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said any bill that results in citizenship was a nonstarter. He called the approach "patently unfair" to those trying to "do it the legal way."

Within hours after the Democratic-controlled Senate approved its bill Thursday on a 68-32 vote, President Obama telephoned with congratulations for several members of the bipartisan Gang of Eight who negotiated an early draft of the bill that passed.

Traveling in Africa, he also called House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco from Africa, urging them to pass an immigration bill.

Yet not even a firm timetable has been set.

In contrast to the all-in-one approach favored by the Senate, the House Judiciary Committee has approved a series of single-issue bills in recent days, none including a path to citizenship that Obama and Democrats have set as a top priority.